Disclaimer: All characters belong to Marvel Comics. All of them except little Damien, but seeing as he's derived from two (or is it one?) Marvel characters, I guess you could say he's sorta theirs. Making no money, don't sue. This story takes place several months in the future of when we last saw X-Force intact, but there are some changes made to continuity. The first is that we never saw Risque again after Proudstar went and brought the Vanisher back to Earth. The second is that Siryn never got her throat ripped out or left X-Force. The third is that Counter X never happened. In other words, X-Force is still intact in its post-Road-Trip-era form, and we have no idea what Risque has been up to.
Rated PG for nasty language. Author's notes are included at the end of the story for the non-readers of the X-Force that was. Does that make sense? Either way, if the canon references are flying over your head, there are notes included that may help.
Thoughts emphasis
She came in looking different, I'll give her that much.
Different enough that I almost didn't recognize her. She'd let her bangs grow out, and she didn't look nearly so smug without that tight little fringe of perfectly evenly trimmed hair over her forehead. She was also dressing very differently from the last time I'd seen her; the cleavage-baring skintight pleather suit and spray-paint-tight belly top* had been replaced by a simple loose t-shirt and some cut-off shorts, finished off by canvas sneakers and white socks. Come to think of it, she was really dressed a lot like me. But most of all, I certainly didn't expect to ever see her with a baby balanced on her hip.
She looked so unlike the Risque I'd previously met, in fact, that when I first saw her standing there, I was almost ready to like her. Then, I remembered the look on Jimmy's face when I said her name in that motel room in Ohio.** That snapped me back.
I'd been on a grocery run with James and Dani when I came in. We and Tabitha and Jesse had gone on a mission in a town nearby New Orleans, and we'd planned to go back to San Francisco the next day, but when Zeke came to pick us up, he told us that something had gone wrong with the helicopter, and it couldn't be trusted to take us back to San Francisco. We called back home to tell the rest of our team what was going on, and Bobby said Zeke would be offended if we took off on a commercial flight, so we thought it best to stay in the city until the copter was repaired. We rented this motel room while Zeke stayed in the town with the copter. It was all fixed up, and we were planning to go back to San Francisco the next day. I was the first one of us back in the room after the grocery run, and there she was.
Standing in front of the motel room's door, looking so wholesome with her modest new look and chubby bright-eyed baby sitting on her hip, that, as I said before, I was almost willing to give her a second chance, was Gloria Muñoz. I might have been able to tolerate her showing up if Tabitha hadn't been so damned friendly to her.
I could understand seeing Jesse standing there playing with the baby's hand, because he didn't know Risque, but Tabitha should've known better. She was standing right there with them, jiggling the baby's other hand, looking like Risque was an old friend.
That set me off. I suppose now that Tabitha just figured Risque had done her dirty job once, and wasn't going to do it again, so now that it was over, she was okay, but I didn't like it one bit. I could still remember what Tabitha had said to me when we found James after Risque made off with him and left him in Detroit, and at the time this was happening, it looked like she was being so nice to Gloria just to spite me.
"What are you doing here?!" I demanded.
"Calm down, Red, I come in peace," said Risque, making the "settle down" gesture with her free hand. Oh, how I hated it when she called me "Red."
"What do you want?" I wanted to know.
"Let me guess," said Jesse. "She and Theresa got off on the wrong foot?"
"They not only got off on the wrong foot," Tabitha confided in him. "But Terry decided to stay there with her!"
Dani came in and threaded her way through all of us, acknowledging Risque with a nod as she carried her bag of groceries to the room's kitchenette. I followed her over, since I was holding a full bag myself, and it was getting heavy.
"She's here looking for Jimmy," said Jesse.
"I'm here because I thought you all would have my son's father with you." Risque indicated the baby she was carrying. "And I'd like to get in touch with him."
She does not expect us to believe, I thought, that James is the father of her child, does she? He's not. Is he? "I don't know why you'd think your boy's father would be with us," I said, daring her to say James's name.
"Well, I saw you passing through town earlier with James," she replied, meeting my challenge. "Where is he now?"
James was the last to come in, carrying a bag under each arm.
He stopped dead in his tracks. He saw Gloria standing there, bonding with our friends, and holding the baby, and I could almost hear the wheels in his head click together. Either he decided what had actually happened, or just what she wanted him to believe. But James was either much less distrustful than I was, or the poor man was just a lot more polite.
"Help him out, you two," I said to Tab and Jesse, who grudgingly let go of the baby's chubby hands to take the grocery bags Jimmy was holding, into the kitchenette. We thus left James standing alone with Gloria, but I kept my eyes and ears on them, mostly on her.
"So," James began.
"Yeah," answered Risque. "His name's Damien. Do you want to hold him?"
"Sure." James held out an arm to accept the baby. "How old is he?"
"Almost nine months."
I kept waiting for James to say something more definite, something more solid than the tentative exchange they'd shared when he first came in. Surely, a life-changing decision like this calls for a more articulate conversation than that, I figured. But to them, the picture apparently spoke for itself, no further explanation was needed. They didn't say anything for a few minutes; Risque stood there smiling up at her son patting Jimmy's face with his little hands, while James held the boy, seeming to search his face for clues.
Finally, she broke the silence, and said what I was afraid she was getting at.
"I want you to be involved in his life, James. It's your choice, of course, but I hope you'll stick around."
"How do we know you're telling the truth?" I challenged her. "Why should we believe that's Jimmy's baby you're holding?"
"Terry..." Tabitha began.
Jimmy didn't seem to notice us arguing, or else it just didn't concern him.
"This is really sudden, Gloria. I would've liked to know about this...about him...sooner."
"I know, and I'm sorry. It's just that...I didn't expect to ever see you again after you left Detroit, but when I saw you all in town, I thought I should tell you."
"Yes, this would be as good a time as any to tell me," James agreed, looking at Damien. "Where do you live?"
"Jimmy, you're not serious!" I said, flopping the navel oranges and Fig Newtons onto the counter to give him my full attention. "Don't you remember what she did to you?"
"It's his business, Irish," Tabitha reminded me. At her words, it was only with a quick clenching of my stomach that I was able to keep the bile from rising in my throat. That was exactly the first part of what she'd said to me when I didn't want to leave James alone with Risque after she led us to him in Detroit. It's his business, Irish. You're a little late to take such an interest in his love life. She was bringing those old accusations up fresh again. I'd been so angry at her for saying that, for implying that what I'd done to James--or what I'd failed to do for him--was worse than what Risque had done. In what way had I done so wrong by him, anyway? They were never really clear on that part. She wasn't the only one, either; they'd all looked at me that way, like I was somehow the guilty one. All except for James; until he got back from fetching the Vanisher for Sledge, he hardly looked at me at all.
"I'll let you guys argue it out amongst yourselves," said Risque, holding out her arms for her son. Once Jimmy had handed him back, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a business card. "My address is written on the back, and I'll be home all day tomorrow," she said, sticking the card into Jimmy's shirt pocket. "It's getting on toward my son's bedtime, so I really should get him out of here." She opened the door, then turned her head back toward Jimmy. "Sleep on it, James, okay?" Then she left.
"Hey. Terry," Tabitha said. "What is your problem? Could you possibly be a little ruder to her? What are you trying to do?"
"I'm trying to tell her that I won't stand for her pulling another stunt on our friend! Why on Earth should I be polite to her?" I demanded. In truth, every word was an effort to say. It was so awkward to be having that argument right in front of James. But I wasn't about to surrender the matter just to spare us both some uncomfortable moments.
"It doesn't sound like she's asking anything so unreasonable," Jesse argued. "I mean, she wants her son to have a father. Is that so wrong?"
"I don't think that's all she wants," I said. "And after what she did to James, why can't she just let him go?"
"So you can stop feeling jealous, you mean?" Tabitha stepped back in. "This is from the girl who suddenly got all worried about Jimmy when he disappeared after she'd spent months treating him like dirt," she continued, but thankfully, James interrupted her.
"Tabitha, lay off of her. All of you, in case you're thinking the same thing about Terry, lay off. She did not 'treat me like dirt.'"
Dani's eyebrows went up. "I never thought she treated you like dirt," she said.
"Thank you, Dani," James continued. "Sure, she could've been a little more," he searched for the right word, "communicative, before I met Gloria, and consistent, too--I'm sorry, Terry, but you really could have," he now took part in his own awkward argument, "but she didn't do anything 'wrong.' Now, Terry, can I speak to you outside?"
"I think that's a very good idea," I said, aggravated, and followed him out of the room.
"Don't talk about us while we're out, you guys," James said while half-out the door.
"Because you all know we can hear you," I finished. Gloria was out of sight by now. Not that she didn't already know what I thought of her, or that I cared, but I knew James wouldn't want us to be talking about her when she could still hear us. :You're not really thinking of going back to her, are you?" I asked him, once the door was closed.
"Actually, I'm planning on going to her place tomorrow morning," he said, looking off to the side.
"But why? You don't owe her anything! What if she's just trying to pull you in for another job for Sledge?"
"I know you don't trust her, and I understand why; in fact I feel the same way. But this isn't about Gloria, this is about Damien."
"What makes you think he's even your child? She could've gotten knocked up by someone else."
"That's...possible," he said distantly. "But then, what if he is my son? I have no other family, Terry."
Even I couldn't argue with that. I knew how quickly James had lost his family, and could imagine how much a child would mean to him. Still, I just couldn't shake that feeling that Risque was hiding something from us, that something wasn't kosher about this. Was it just me being paranoid? Perhaps. But then I'd been paranoid about her before, and she'd proven me right. I couldn't let this go yet. "She says the baby's almost nine months old, and she had another nine months before that to know he was on the way, and yet she didn't tell you about him until now."
"I know that, and I'm just as annoyed with her as you."
"But my point is, if she's gone all this time without telling you there's a baby, I don't think she needs your help in raising him. She seems to be doing all right by herself."
"That's not what I'm worried about, Terry. I want to help raise my kid. Sure, his mother is less than trustworthy, but he's innocent," James explained. There was another name that alarmed me: calling Risque a "mother." Although she apparently was, it just didn't seem right. "I don't trust her either, but I have to check it out," he went on. "Now, you all don't have to wait up for me. If it turns out that she's just using Damien to sell me out again, then I'll make it back to San Francisco. But I can't just ignore Risque where this is concerned." With that, he started towards the door again.
"Let me ask you something," I said. He turned back to look at me. "Could you really have gotten her pregnant while you were with her in Florida?" I asked.
"I'll have to be honest with you, Terry. When Risque and I were together, we fucked each other senseless." He went back inside.
I didn't follow him back in immediately. I needed a few minutes to myself after he said that. Although we'd never come close to making love, and I'd known just from seeing the way she looked at him at Xavier's that they'd done it, I still just couldn't handle the thought of him sleeping with someone else. Hearing him say it so frankly was not easy.
James went over to Gloria's apartment the next morning just as he'd said. I offered to go with him, but he insisted that he go by himself..
I stayed in our room at first; the others all went out to enjoy the city on their own, but I had to call headquarters again. Thankfully, it was Bobby who answered the phone.
"We need to stay here for at least another day," I told him. "I've just spoken to Zeke, and it turns out there's a part that needs to be replaced. So we need to wait until he can get it. And since it's your money we're using to stay here, I thought it only fair to consult you before changing our plans," I made up an explanation. By then it had become clear that I was in an odd position as a leader, with Bobby being the one with the money. None of the other X-team leaders, to my knowledge, had to go over expenditures with their charges, and there I was, asking Roberto DaCosta, who had just recently come to take me seriously as a leader, to keep the cash flowing to indulge my paranoia. Not that I was worried that he'd say no; he could have put us up in a much classier place than this drive-up motel, but I, not wanting to give him a chance to flash his money around from afar, insisted that we would be perfectly comfortable in a humbler setting.
"I have no problem with paying for you all to stay in New Orleans for several more days. You could stay there for months and it would not break me," he assured me. "I hope you enjoy yourselves while you're there."
"We will. Just tell Domino and Sam we won't be back just yet, but we're okay."
"Would you like to talk to them?"
"No, that's okay. I need to get going."
After hanging up, I paced the motel room to look for some reason to go check on James. Eventually, I found a few things of his that he left behind, and packed them into my backpack. Then, I left for the address that James had wisely copied down on a legal pad on top of the dresser.
She answered the door when I got to her apartment. James was nowhere in sight, but at least I didn't see any sign of Sledge or the Vanisher or any other unwholesome characters, either. "Well, hi," she said when she saw me standing at her door. She looked surprised, but so far was handling it gracefully. "What brings you here?"
"I brought over some of Jimmy's stuff," I said, holding up my very limp backpack. "Where is he?"
"He's in back, changing the baby's diaper." Risque stood aside to let me in. "You can go on back to him."
I found James struggling to hold a squirming and fussy, bare-bottomed Damien on his back on the changing table. The baby was so determined to wriggle out of James' grasp, in fact, that James didn't notice that I'd come in.
"What, you can stop a moving police car dead in its tracks," I began, giggling, "but you can't hold a little baby in place while you change his diaper?"
James looked over at me. "Not without cracking his ribs, Terry. How long have you been in here?"
"Just a few seconds," I said. "Do you want some help there?"
"I know what you could do," he said. "Come here and hold him up like this," he demonstrated holding the baby up vertically off the table, so he couldn't roll around, "while I do the dirty work."
I took James's place in holding the baby, while he went to work with the wet wipes. "So, what are you doing here?" he asked, while reaching for a fresh diaper. "You didn't really want to see me brought to my knees by a 16-pound infant, did you?"
"You left a few things back at the motel," I said, indicating the mostly-empty backpack hanging in the crook of my elbow. He gave me a look, like he'd brought everything he really needed into Gloria's apartment himself, and I knew it. My story was a joke; what I'd brought with me were a few books and Jimmy's razor. While he liked to read, he could certainly survive without his novels, and he hardly ever shaved. His facial hair was so thin and sparse that he only used a razor about twice a month; Sam liked to tease him by calling it "going in to scrape off the peach fuzz."
"Thanks," he said. He opened up a clean diaper, lifted it up into position, and fumbled with the sides until it was closed around the baby's waist. "There we go," he said, taking the little one off my hands.
"With a baby this wiggly," I began as James held Damien up to his chest and made soothing sounds to stop his fussing, and pitched my voice very low, so that Gloria wouldn't hear me, "did his mother even offer to help you with this, or does she believe in trial by fire?"
"She showed me how to change him earlier this morning, but I insisted on doing it myself after that," he explained. "I mean, how much of a father can I be if I can't even put a clean diaper on my kid? The fact that I asked you to help means I need some more practice."
"It's only your first day. Give yourself some time."
"What's going on back here?" Gloria surprised us by appearing in the doorway behind James. "Are you two plotting something behind my back?"
"Nope, Terry just came in to drop off the rest of my stuff, and she helped me get Damien cleaned up."
"That was nice of her," Risque nodded. "Well, lunch is ready now. Theresa, would you like to join us? I mean, I only made enough for two, but James eats enough for two or three people anyway, so I might as well fix some more, right?" she joked.
"Thank you, but," I began, searching for an equally polite way out. How could I make my exit without telling that woman that I still didn't trust her, and was truly unnerved at how relaxed she was about having James in her home after what she did to him? "I really should be going. X-Force is expecting me to join them in town," I started to lie through my little rocky teeth, while looking at James. He really did look strangely happy, more at peace than I'd ever seen him, with that baby sitting against his chest. "And I want Jimmy to have some time to get to know the baby, without me getting in the way."
"I hardly think you'd be getting in the way," Risque began. What is she doing?, I thought. Why does she want me to stay in here? There's no lost friendship to mend between us. "But if X-Force is expecting you," she continued. "Then I shouldn't keep you. So, thanks for stopping by."
James walked me to the door while Risque put her son in his high chair in the kitchen. Just before I turned to leave, James bent down to talk to me, very low, much more secretly than I'd been talking in the nursery. "I know why you came over," he whispered. "And I hope you can see now that it's not necessary. Everything's fine."
"Yes, I can see that now."
"But I do appreciate your concern. Stop by again before you all go back to headquarters, okay?" he asked.
So you really intend to stay here? "Of course I'll stop by again. And James? Feel free to call us any time. Even later on today, if you want."
"Thanks, I'll remember that."
Feel free to call us any time. Even later on today, if you want. I think he knew what I meant by that.
That evening, after the rest of the team had gotten back, I found myself going into town again. They'd all come back into the motel room and, in the less-than-harsh lighting of the room, Tabitha discovered that she hadn't reapplied her sunblock quite enough, and had gotten badly sunburned. I told her I knew how she felt--and she knew it, because we were all surprised I didn't have skin cancer after our time spent in Arizona--and told her and Jesse and Dani I'd go to the nearest drugstore to get her some aloe vera gel. Before anyone could tell me that wasn't necessary, or offer to go with me, or instead of me, I practically leapt out of the room and towards the road. It wasn't that the drugstore was calling me, or even that I was dying for a glimpse of New Orleans nightlife; I needed to get out of there before anyone could ask me what I'd done all day. The last thing I needed was Tabitha telling me I was too late to be looking out for Jimmy.
I should have known to walk in a different direction. Maybe it just seemed like a more peaceful, practical part of town, but I should have known better than to choose a store so close to her apartment. Guess who I ran into while searching the shelves for a suitable bottle?
"Hello, Theresa. What are you doing here?" she asked me.
"I'm just running an errand for my friends," I answered. At least this time, I didn't have to lie.
"That's certainly nice of you," said Risque. "James is home with the baby, I'm here to get us some more dish detergent."
"Well, I don't think you'll find it in this aisle," I said, while shuddering at the Ozzie & Harriet tone of her voice after spending all of one day at home with James.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see her briefly snarl under her breath at my rudeness, then recover her usual sweet smile. "I noticed you were in quite a hurry to leave after you visited James this morning," she recalled.
Why is she bringing this up? I grabbed a likely-looking bottle of aloe vera gel off the shelf and hurried towards the register with it. She followed me there, empty-handed. "There was no reason for me to stay," I said while the cashier rang up my item.
"Just like there was really no reason for you to have been there in the first place," she replied.
"Gloria, don't you have some dish detergent to be getting?" I glared at her in disbelief.
"And you're getting aloe vera gel, even though you're not sunburned, and if you'd spent any time outdoors today, you would be. You have the complexion for it," she observed.
"So you know what Irish skin is like; your point is? This isn't for me, anyway, it's for Tabitha," I said while handing the cashier a few dollars.
"My point is, you weren't really going to join your friends in town today, you just couldn't wait to get out of my apartment."
"Look, could you ladies either break it up or take it outside?" requested the cashier, a teenaged boy who'd grown to look rather nervous while Risque and I were at the register.
"That's certainly where I'm going," I said as I turned on my heel and rushed out the door. Unfortunately, she decided she wasn't finished talking to me, and followed me outside before the door could shut behind me. "Why do you care if I couldn't wait to get out of your apartment this morning?" I yelled at her. "In case you didn't notice before, I don't like you! Is that really such a surprise? Why did you bother asking me to stay for lunch anyway?! There's no love lost between us!"
"I asked because, unlike you, I have manners," she said.
"That's right. You were very polite in harassing me in that store there, and I'm sure you said Please and Thank You and You're Welcome when you handed James that wine glass full of tranquilizers!"
"Oh, get over yourself. You don't really give a shit about James's feelings, you just don't want him to be with me."
"You're right about one thing," I continued our argument, while leading her around to a dark alley where we wouldn't scare so many passersby.
"Quite frankly my dear, I don't see why you bother," she went on once we were more or less alone. "That little pretense you made of 'bringing Jimmy some things he left behind' today was really pathetic; I saw through it even before he did. You just wanted to check up on him, and make sure he wasn't getting too comfortable with me."
"And can you blame me? After what you did to him, I have every right to be suspicious of you! You really hurt him, Risque," I began, when she cut me off.
"I don't go by 'Risque' anymore; now I'm just Gloria Muñoz, ordinary single mom."
"Fine then, Gloria. You weren't around to see how badly you screwed Jimmy over, but I remember the look on his face when I said your name in front of him, and after that, I can't believe you have the nerve to show your face in front of him again! He really thought you loved him, and what you did to him I wouldn't wish on anyone."
"I really did love him, still do, regardless of what you may think, and 'what I did to him' was unavoidable; I had to do the job for Sledge, whether I liked it or not." Her voice started to rise. "Besides, if I really got under James's skin that much, you have only yourself to blame." She got up to a full, shrill-pitched shout. "He was so vulnerable when I first met him because of all the indifference he'd been getting from you, bitch!" she spat.
No, I thought. You are not going to pass all this off on me. "You," I began with my lip curled fiercely upward. "are not about to fool me. You," I growled. "made Jimmy believe you were interested in him, when you were really just trying to bring him back to that Sledge. And you kept it up until you had him in position, then you drugged him up so he'd be unconscious while you, or whoever it was in charge of transport, took him to another city. That wasn't unavoidable, that's just how you like to do things!"
"Well, what was I supposed to do, say to him, 'The truth is, my boss wants you to do a job for him, and in return he can tell you the whereabouts of someone from your old reservation, so come on up to Detroit with me.'? Is that how you would've had me handle the situation?"
"Yes. You could've said exactly that to him as soon as you met him in that junkyard, rather than pull him along with a lie for months before you finally betrayed him, but instead, you just had to play with him, and for that, I don't trust you one bit, especially where Jimmy's concerned."
"What you're saying I should have done would never have worked," she said, folding her arms across her chest.
"But you'll never know now, will you?"
"Well, I'm sorry I can't go back in time and test your theory," she sneered. "But whether you're right about me or not doesn't make any difference now; I have a child with James, like it or not, and I'm trying to act in the best interests of my kid. Am I now screwing James over by asking him to help raise his son?"
"Why should I believe that's his son?"
"What do you think I did; fuck another Indian while I was with him?"
"It wouldn't surprise me in the least," I answered.
We stood there and stared each other down for the longest time. Her expression almost unnerved me; she really looked at me like I was a threat to be protected from. It was too much to bear, after all the lies she'd told. "Maybe Jimmy deserved better from me than he got," I broke the silence. "But you're not the one to go telling me about that. Now, may I take this green gel back to my sunburned teammate?" I indicated the street outside.
"I don't give a rat's ass what you do," she said. "Just as long as you back away from me while you do it."
I turned to leave, thinking that was the end of it, but it seems she wasn't finished just yet.
"Why is it your business if James wants to stay with me and Damien? Why are you acting like you're responsible for him?" she asked me.
I turned around to face her again. "Because I am the leader of this team. Jimmy's a part of it, so I am responsible for what happens to him."
"But nothing is 'happening' to him! God forbid he should make a choice in life that doesn't include you!"
"I'll believe he's making a choice when I know you're telling the truth."
She didn't say anything, just scowled at me from under her grown-out bangs. I turned around again, and she said nothing as I walked away.
As I walked back to the hotel, there was only one question that kept going through my head; just how much did Jimmy tell her about me? He'd always been so good to me. He went to Ireland with me***, sure, but it was after we got back that he really made a difference. It wasn't even 12 hours after we stepped out of the IPAC in Camp Verde that my DT's started, and he took care of me the whole time. I don't think I could have gotten through those 4 days without him. After that, he kept on being such a good friend to me, I thought the memory of the way he'd helped me was precious. Now I had to wonder, how much did Gloria know about all that?
When I got back to the room, my teammates were there, playing a game of Go-Fish on one of the double beds. I took a seat next to Tabitha and handed her the aloe vera gel.
"Thanks," she said. "Can you hold my cards while I put this stuff on?"
"Sure," I said, and took the cards from her.
"Is something wrong, Terry?" Dani asked.
"Nothing, why?" I lied. In truth, I was so relieved to be getting along with Tabitha that I wasn't about to open the old argument up again.
"Jesse, do you have any fours?" Tabitha asked.
"No, go fish," he said.
"Well, you look worried," Dani said to me while I drew a card from the pile and added it to Tabitha's hand. "You look like something's eating you. Surely a trip to the drugstore couldn't be that bad."
"She's right, Terry, you look like you're having a bad day," Tabitha said. "We're your friends, now 'fess up."
"I ran into Gloria at the store," I admitted. "And she wasn't too happy to see me."
"What did she say to you?" Jesse asked.
"Well, today while you were in town, I went to her apartment to check on James. You know, to make sure she wasn't working for Sledge or anything like that again."
"Was she?" Jesse asked.
"No, Jimmy was there, and he was okay. She was actually very polite to me while I was there, but then when she saw me in the store, she started to give me a hard time about it," I explained.
To my surprise, Tabitha didn't say anything about my visiting James that day. "I'm sorry about that," was all she said.
"Is that James sitting on the curb out there? If so, he doesn't look happy, either," said Jesse.
I looked up, and through the opened-up vertical blinds I could see a very large man sitting on a curb across the parking lot. I handed Tabitha's cards back to her and got up off the bed. "You all stay here, I'm going out to talk to him," I said. "If that's not Jimmy out there, I'll be back in a minute."
"If that's him, I hope he's okay," said Dani.
Jimmy was sitting on the curb with his head down, looking so despondent that I'd rather have Gloria prove me wrong and make me look like the villain a hundred times over than let him feel that way. I hadn't seen him slumped in on himself like that since I'd brought her up when we first went on the road.** I almost didn't want to know what she'd done to him. But I needed to find out.
"Jimmy, is that you there?" I asked. He looked up, and I saw it was him. "What happened? What's the matter?" I asked.
"I found Damien's birth certificate."
"What did it say?"
"Gloria told me he was born last August, and he's almost nine months old now. The birth certificate says he was born in September, a full month later than she told me. He's not nine months, he's eight months."
"But why would she lie about her baby's age?" It didn't strike me just yet. "How long were you with her?"
"I was only with her in Florida for a couple weeks. I went back to Westchester and got separated from her in November. September minus nine months is?" he waited for my answer.
"December," I finished, and I'd finally gotten his point.
"So she couldn't have gotten pregnant until after I left her. There is no way that baby is my kid, and she knew it all along."
"Then she lied to you again."
"That's right. She knew how much a child would mean to me, and she used it against me."
"How did you leave her? I mean, did you pack up and walk out before she came back, or did you let her explain herself?"
"I wasn't going to leave the baby home alone, even if he's not mine. No, Damien went to sleep before Gloria got back, and when she came in, I confronted her."
He waited in the living room of her apartment until she came back, and as he told me, it went something like this:
"Oh! You will not believe who I ran into at the Quik-E-Mart! Well, actually, you probably will believe it, but the point is, I can't wait until they leave town! James, where's the baby?" asked Gloria.
"He's asleep. Look what I found on the dining room table," he said, and held up Damien's birth certificate.
"Oh, you found it! Thank God, I've been looking for this since we moved in here." She took it out of his hand and started towards her bedroom.
"You told me he was born in August," he said.
She stopped, and turned her head back to him. "Yeah?"
"And that says September."
She turned around to face him again. "You know, I think I said my due date was in August..."
"No, you told me that baby was born in the middle of August, but that piece of paper says he was born in the middle of September," he said while walking towards her slowly.
"So, what does that mean to you?"
"I remember the dates of when I was with you in Florida. If Damien was born in the middle of September, then he can't be my kid."
"Wait a minute, James, stop. He was born late, that's all. I'm not asking you to raise some other guy's baby."
"I don't believe you, Gloria..." He began to shake his head.
"Why not?!"
"If he was born late, why did you tell me he was nine months old? Why didn't you just tell me the truth for once?"
"'For once'? What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means you've lied to me before, and you're doing it again."
"Oh my God, you're bringing that up again, you sound just like her. Look, I know I hurt you, but I'm telling you, there was no way around it! I was under specific orders from Sledge--" she began.
"--and you weren't willing to risk telling the truth," he cut her off. "But you have a choice now."
"And I'm telling you the truth this time. Don't leave," she pleaded.
"Then why didn't you tell me he was born late the first time around?"
"Because I didn't think you'd believe me."
"Because you couldn't believe it yourself." He went to gather up his belongings.
"So then there's nothing I can say that'll convince you?" she asked while following him.
"You could try telling me they made a mistake on Damien's birth certificate, but I think you've already said too much to pull that off." He stuffed the few things he'd brought with him into the backpack I'd brought over.
"James, you've only been here for a day..."
"So I'd best be out of here before your son gets too attached to me."
"Does it really bother you so much that I may have slept with someone else?"
"No, that's just the thing, you see--I don't care who else you slept with." He looked over to face her. "I don't even care whose genes that baby has. I care that you can't stop lying to me, and that's all that ever kept us together. Now can you at least tell me the truth about who that kid's real father is? Not that it's my business, I just want to know how I got drafted for this."
"He's a creep, James. He doesn't know about Damien and I don't want him to. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me."
"I'm sorry to hear your kid's father's a creep," he sighed, "but I can't do this anymore," and headed for the door.
Just before he was out, she said, "James, we could've been so happy together in another life."
"But obviously not this one." And he left.
"Jimmy, I'm sorry about all of this," I said when he was finished telling his story.
"It's not your fault. At least I found out the truth before I stayed there too long, right?"
"Yes, I suppose there's that." Maybe it was the wrong thing to be bringing up, but he didn't look quite so crushed since he told me what happened, and the questions from walking back to the motel were nagging at me again. There was still something I just had to know. "So now just tell me, what did I do wrong?" I asked.
"Nothing, what are you talking about?"
"What did you tell her about me?"
He nodded, with that look that said he understood.
"Why does Tabitha think I'm too late to be looking out for you? Why, when you first went missing, did Domino tell me that I no longer had the right to be worried about you? And is it just me, or are the rest of them looking at me like I hurt you worse than she did?"
"Did Domino really say that to you?"
"When I expressed concern about your disappearance, her exact words were, "You can pull that jack with someone else, Terry.' What did you say to them?"
"I didn't say anything to them."
"Then how did I become the bad guy in all of this?"
"I didn't know you were the bad guy." He shook his head. "But if you are, I guess it's because, before I met Gloria, I was really frustrated over the way things were going between us. I was totally head over heels for you, and you didn't seem to care one way or the other, and I think that's what they saw. But I never blamed you for what was going on."
"What about Gloria? What did you tell her?"
"Probably some things I shouldn't have said," he admitted. "You have to understand that at the time I woke up from Selene's attack, and found Gloria taking care of me, I felt like you had been jerking me around. I don't think that anymore, but, like I said, I was frustrated then. So I told her about you." He paused, and looked up at me. "That I felt strongly about you, and you were blowing hot and cold at me." He looked at me without saying anything, again, as if waiting for me to answer. "I also told her about our trip to Ireland."
"That was very personal."
"I know. Maybe I also said some kind of cynical things about you while I was with her. But she doesn't know you; I do."
"Why do you think I came to visit you today?"
"To make sure she hadn't drugged me and sent me off to another far-off city. That she wasn't pulling another fast one on me. To let me know you still considered me part of the team. Is that what you were going for?"
"Yes, that's about right," I smiled.
"I respect that," he nodded. "You're a good leader, Theresa.
"And an even better friend."
"Oh, Jimmy. You don't know how much that means to me."
"So don't worry about what the others think about what's happened between us."
"So then, why did she go and do this, anyway? What was she trying to accomplish this time?"
"I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume she wanted me back. She got really attached to me while she was lining me up for Sledge, and decided to try again. To her credit, none of this was planned out more than a day in advance. Her pregnancy was completely accidental, and she never expected to see me again once she moved down here."
"And when did she move down here?"
"Well, once she brought me in to Sledge, her debt to him was paid, so she moved in with some relatives around here to have her baby."
"Oh my God."
"What's the matter?"
"I never thought about it before; I screamed a pregnant woman up against a wall."
"What are you talking about?"
"When we went after Risque in Florida, looking for you, I sonic-screamed her up against a wall so she'd stop running away from us. I didn't know she was pregnant then."
"It's rough, I know, but that seems to be the least of what she holds against you. And she should've thought about that before she decided to piss you off by selling me out. Either way, Damien's a healthy, happy kid. You don't seem to have hurt him."
"Well, thank goodness for that."
I sat down beside him, and neither of us said anything for a few minutes.
Finally, he spoke up. "I don't care about all that crap anymore."
"Which crap are you talking about?"
"Back when I was frustrated with you and thought you were jerking me around; I don't care about any of that garbage now. Ever since I got back from bringing the Vanisher back for Sledge, you've been such a good friend to me, none of that old crap matters anymore. Even if the others do think you broke my heart, don't worry about what they think. I know you didn't mean to hurt me."
"No, Jimmy. I didn't."
Again we sat together without saying anything, and again he was the one to break the silence. "You wanna know something about me and Gloria?" he asked.
"What is it?"
"The time we spent together was more of a vacation than a relationship, for both of us," he told me. "I got to be with a girl who showed me a good time, and she got to be with a guy who wouldn't steal her money or give her an STD. It was fun for a little while, but there was no substance behind it. I didn't see that until it was over. Can't believe I didn't see anything wrong from the beginning, with the way we met."
"You were lonely," I said, "and you needed the attention she gave you. I don't blame you for being drawn in. I didn't trust her when I first met her, but then I wasn't in the same place as you, and in truth, I didn't know any better than you did. I just made a luckier guess is all."
Jimmy looked over at me. "You made a luckier guess this time, too, and I'm glad you were willing to say it out loud."
"No 'I told you so' here; I just hope she didn't hurt you too badly this time."
"I think I'll get over it, just as long as I stay far away from her."
"Then are you ready to come home with us?"
"Yeah," he said, standing up from the curb.
"Good. We'll leave tomorrow morning." I got up, put my hand in his, and we walked back into the motel.
**Crash-course in the history of the Siryn-Proudstar-Risque triangle (read: mess) for those who are unfamiliar with X-Force and decided to read this story anyway.
James first met Gloria aka Risque in X-Force #51, when he got a call asking him to meet someone at a junkyard on the outskirts of NYC. No one appeared until a pile of collapsed vehicles next to him exploded. He responded by picking up two tons of rubble and throwing it in the direction of the explosion. After Risque imploded the rubble and dropped it to the ground, she popped out of the shadows, briefly introduced herself to James, kissed him, and jumped back into the darkness.
She stayed out of the picture until issues #53-55. When James was KO'd by Selene in a battle with the Externals, Risque somehow got into the building, left with James's unconscious body, and shriveled up the top of the building they were in, all without getting attacked by Selene herself. (We don't see exactly how she manages this, because it's told through Siryn's perspective in issue #54.) Later on, while Siryn was wringing her hands over James' disappearance and Domino was telling her she'd waited too long to start wringing her hands (hence the "You can pull that jack with someone else, Terry."), a fully-recovered James was making out with Risque in her sunny Florida flat.
Despite the wonderfully fun thing he had going on with Risque, James decided he had to go back to X-Force during the Onslaught crossover, so the two of them motorcycled on up to Westchester and jumped into the fray while X-Force was dealing with Sinister. They all got knocked out by a telepathic attack from Sinister, and when they woke up, Risque was gone.
X-Force didn't see any more of her until issue #65, when she bubbled out of the depths of the lake while James was swimming. Siryn walked in on them getting ready to make out in James's room, and did not look the least bit amused at what was going on. (Meanwhile, Risque finally told James her real name was Gloria Muñoz.) James and Gloria went out for a night of clubbing in the East Village, where they had a good time until the Blob and Mimic showed up, looking to finish the job Gloria had failed to do. There was a brief battle, and once the Blob and Mimic were subdued, Risque took James into her friend's apartment in Tribeca, where she promptly fed him a glass of wine full of tranquilizers, and told him the real reason why she met him as he lost consciousness. (Famous last words: "I...thought...you...cared.")
After James didn't come home, X-Force tracked Risque down to an amusement park in Florida called Wackyworld (where Siryn screamed her up against a wall) and demanded to know where James was. Meanwhile, he woke up in a junkhouse in Detroit, presided over by a big funny-looking guy on crutches, who introduced himself as Sledge and made James an offer he couldn't refuse. X-Force burst in through the wall, made sure James wasn't injured or under mind control, and he left with them. "The look on his face...in that motel room in Ohio" is from a few issues later, when Siryn brought up Risque's coming between them, and James, looking very let down to be reminded of her, asked not to hear that name anymore.
***The "trip to Ireland," refers to issue #31, when Theresa took James with her to Cassidy Keep for two weeks so she could straighten out her problems. As it turned out, James was the one who put most of the work into fixing her family troubles and persuading her to quit drinking, since she spent most of the trip hammered out of her gourd.
*This is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. While Siryn has not, to my knowledge, been spotted in cleavage-baring skintight pleather, her dress code during the Arizona Era could be summed up as, "Let's see how much skin I can expose!" So she really has no right to talk.